S. 2163 — Border Patrol Recruitment Enhancement Act

This section revises the waiver authority under the Anti-Border Corruption Act of 2010 for the polygraph examination requirement applicable to all applicants for law enforcement positions with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). (The Act, enacted in 2010, mandates polygraph exams for such applicants within two years and periodic background reinvestigations for current personnel within 180 days.) It replaces the prior waiver—limited to veterans holding active Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information clearances, current Single Scope Background Investigations without prior waivers, and deemed suitable for employment—with new authority allowing the CBP Commissioner to waive the requirement for: (1) current full-time state or local law enforcement officers with at least three years of continuous service in the most recent three-year period, statutory arrest powers, no derogatory records or investigations, no resignation under investigation or in lieu of termination, no dismissal, and a successfully passed polygraph within the prior 10 years verified by their agency; (2) current full-time federal law enforcement officers with at least three years of continuous service in the most recent three-year period, arrest and investigative authorities, no derogatory records or investigations, no resignation under investigation or in lieu of termination, no dismissal, and a current background investigation meeting Top Secret or Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information standards; and (3) Armed Forces members (including reserves) or veterans with at least three years of service, a current or within-five-years background investigation meeting Top Secret or Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information standards, an honorable discharge (or eligibility), no criminal convictions or charges, no Uniform Code of Military Justice offenses, and no derogatory records. The section further establishes that this waiver authority terminates five years after enactment.

This section revises section 4 of the Anti-Border Corruption Act of 2010 (which requires polygraph examinations for applicants to certain U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) law enforcement positions) to clarify that polygraph waivers under section 3(b) do not exempt recipients from other suitability and national security hiring requirements; to require appropriate background investigations for waiver recipients holding Top Secret or Top Secret Sensitive Compartmented Information clearances; and to authorize the CBP Commissioner to administer polygraphs to waiver recipients if needed prior to background investigation completion. (1) It requires the CBP Commissioner to submit annual reports to Congress on the polygraph waiver program—not later than one year after enactment of the Border Patrol Recruitment Enhancement Act and annually thereafter for four years—including data on waivers granted and denied, hires, polygraph administrations, program impacts, needed authorities, and disciplinary actions, with the first report also analyzing alternative deception-detection tests and recommending their use; (2) it requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review waiver hires' disciplinary records compared to polygraph passers and report to specified congressional committees not later than five years after enactment and every five years thereafter for the following 10 years (i.e., at five, 10, and 15 years); and (3) it adds definitions of "criminal offense," "Federal law enforcement officer," "military offense," and "veteran."